Glee’s Cory Monteith on how he got the part, shooting the show and his character

September 24, 2009 by Lance Carter

Cory Monteith landed the role of high-school hero Finn Hudson in a typically unconventional way, as befitting a one-time roofer and Wal-Mart greeter.

He had never sung for an audition before, so he put together a video in which he played drums “on overturned Tupperware, coffee mugs and wine glasses” with pencils, “to show them that I’m musical.”

An actual audition before Fox network executives came later, but by then he had learned how to carry a tune without making it sound like an American Idol audition gone bad.

Monteith felt particular pressure because his character, the popular school quarterback with movie-star looks, is one of just two genuine talents in the show choir; the rest of the choir is made up of misfits and deluded divas who can’t sing.

“It was especially hard in the beginning because we were learning how to work with a choreographer,” Monteith recalled. “We had to shoot the show, pre-record the music and learn the dance choreography all at the same time.

“In the beginning, we were taking weeks to do some of these dance numbers. By the end of the season, though, we were taking days. Everything became compacted and condensed.”

In the end, Monteith said, it was all good.

“It’s a huge workload to take on, alongside the eight days it takes to shoot an episode. Every moment we weren’t shooting, we were learning the dance routines or choreographing the dance routines or recording the songs. It’s great that it’s all good stuff.”

Music will play a big part in Glee’s season, Monteith confirmed. He admits there were some songs the producers couldn’t land, though.

“I tried to suggest one but it got shot down,” Monteith said sheepishly. “Apparently Bryan Adams was not willing to licence his song ‘Everything I Do (I Do It For You).’ Which really would have worked well for this one particular episode, but it didn’t make it into the show. Oh, well.”

Monteith was born in Calgary, raised in Victoria and lived in Nanaimo briefly before moving to Vancouver to pursue acting.

“Every day I’m on the show, I’m wondering how exactly someone from my background melds into a story that is so very American and so different from what I grew up with,” Monteith said.

Monteith learned he could use that to his advantage, though.

“There is a kind of naivete that my character exhibits that I can relate to. He’s a little younger than I am. I grew up a little faster than Finn Hudson. But I think there’s a certain kind of naiveness there that’s very sweet.”